Dave Nemetz Reviews The Rainmaker: Even John Slattery Can't Save USA's Legally Bland Adaptation
John Slattery is a national treasure. After memorable supporting turns on Ed, Sex and the City and Desperate Housewives, he gave us a truly iconic TV character in Roger Sterling, Mad Men's sleazy yet somehow still charming ad exec. He makes every TV show he's on better — but there's only so much he can do to help USA's new legal drama The Rainmaker, premiering this Friday at 10/9c. (I've seen the first three episodes.) Despite Slattery's best efforts, it's a tepid, muddled adaptation of the classic John Grisham courtroom thriller that falls victim to clunky writing and acting.
The USA series follows Grisham's bestselling novel, which inspired a 1997 Matt Damon movie, but it adds a few twists. Milo Callaghan stars as Rudy Baylor, who graduates law school with his girlfriend Sarah (Madison Iseman) and goes to work for a high-end law firm run by Slattery's legal titan Leo Drummond. Rudy flames out on his first day, though, and ends up working for a shady lawyer named Bruiser (Lana Parrilla) and her gleefully immoral paralegal Deck (P.J. Byrne). When Rudy takes on the case of a grieving mom who wants justice for her dead son, it pits him against Leo — and Sarah, who still works for Leo's firm.
Now admittedly, Grisham's original story isn't the most complex or innovative courtroom drama ever written. But it's straightforward and effective, a classic underdog story of Rudy and Deck taking on a million-dollar legal team with only the truth on their side. A straightforward story requires precise execution, though, and USA's The Rainmaker mucks things up by adding more cases, including a creepy psycho accused of arson played by Dan Fogler who feels like he wandered over from a lost episode of Hannibal. By adding more cases to fill out the world, the show loses focus and ends up feeling more like a crime procedural than a legal drama. And we already have plenty of crime procedurals — we could use more good old-fashioned courtroom fireworks.
Slattery, for his part, steals every scene he's in. He blazes onto the screen in Leo's first scene like Alec Baldwin in Glengarry Glen Ross, announcing to his firm's new hires: "I am the punishment of God." Infusing Leo with equal parts arrogance and wit, Slattery still has that winking Roger Sterling charisma; even when he does terrible things, we can't stay mad at him. But it's a supporting role, ultimately, and the show noticeably deflates when Leo leaves the room. It's like he's from a different show — one I'd rather be watching, actually.
Callaghan is a little stiff as Rudy, and the character suffers from a distinct lack of personality. (I get it: It's tough to compete with a young Matt Damon. But Callaghan doesn't quite get there.) Putting Rudy's girlfriend on the opposing legal team adds an interesting dynamic, but their relationship is pretty blah, and Sarah isn't given much depth — aside from the fact that she can remember the first line of every novel she's ever read (?!?), which has to be the strangest character detail I've encountered in years.
Parrilla's Bruiser — in a role that's gender-swapped from the movie's Mickey Rourke — is reduced to being a crass sexpot, responding to Rudy's claims of legal experience by saying: "Stop, my nipples are getting hard." A lot of the dialogue is just Southern-fried hokum, and the supporting roles are plagued by soapy, overheated acting. Any time Slattery's Leo wasn't in a scene, I could feel my attention beginning to drift. In trying to expand the narrative for TV, USA's The Rainmaker loses what makes the story special in the first place — and not even a healthy dose of Slattery is enough to recommend it.
THE TVLINE BOTTOM LINE: USA's The Rainmaker is a tepid, muddled retelling of the classic John Grisham legal thriller that falls short, despite John Slattery's charms.